Sonnet of Michel Angelo Buonarotti
Never did sculptor's dream unfoldA form which marble doth not holdIn its white block; yet it therein shall findOnly the hand secure and boldWhich still obeys the mind.So hide in thee, thou heavenly dame,The ill I shun, the good I claim;I alas! not well alive,Miss the aim whereto I strive.Not love, nor beauty's pride,Nor Fortune, nor thy coldness, can I chide,If, whilst within thy heart abideBoth death and pity, my unequal skillFails of the life, but draws the death and ill.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- whereto adv.
- To which; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet of Michel Angelo Buonarotti is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Household Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #12843; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sonnet of Michel Angelo Buonarotti, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/sonnet-of-michel-angelo-buonarotti.html, id L07528.
Form and metre
Sonnet of Michel Angelo Buonarotti is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes AABABCCDDEEEFF. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABABCCDDEEEFF unfoldA · holdA · findB · boldA · mindB · dameC · claimC · aliveD · striveD · prideE · chideE · abideE · skillF · illF
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Never did sculptor's dream unfold | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| A form which marble doth not hold | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In its white block; yet it therein shall find | 10 | ·········· |
| Only the hand secure and bold | 8 | /˘··˘/·· |
| Which still obeys the mind. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| So hide in thee, thou heavenly dame, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The ill I shun, the good I claim; | 8 | ········ |
| I alas! not well alive, | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| Miss the aim whereto I strive. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Not love, nor beauty's pride, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Nor Fortune, nor thy coldness, can I chide, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| If, whilst within thy heart abide | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Both death and pity, my unequal skill | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Fails of the life, but draws the death and ill. | 10 | ·········· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.